Dog Food Recall

Posted on October 10, 2010 by daysofourdogs

News Release From Pet Supplies “Plus” store:

Recall Alert Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. Recalls Limited Production Code Dates of Dry Dog Food Because of Possible Excess Vitamin D

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., recalls certain dry dog food because of possible excess Vitamin D that can affect the health of some dogs. The Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd., is recalling certain packages of its Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon and Large Breed Adult Chicken dry dog foods sold under the “BLUE” brand which have the potential to contain excessive levels of Vitamin D.

If you have Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon and Large Breed Adult Chicken dry dog foods, please stop feeding them to your pet and return them to PSP for a complete refund.

While Vitamin D is a beneficial component of these foods, the Company believes that these products may have levels of Vitamin D that are beyond the formula specifications, and has therefore chosen to withdraw them.

Dogs reacting to the higher levels of Vitamin D may show signs of lethargy or exhibit unusually frequent water consumption and urination. If your pet has consumed the recalled products and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

The affected products of Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon and Large Breed Adult Chicken dry dog foods were distributed nationwide at PSP and other pet specialty retailers.

 

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Take Your Medicine

Posted on October 8, 2010 by daysofourdogs

Windy, my mini dachshund, still needs several days’ worth of medication during her recovery from HGE.

Many dog owners have to give pills throughout their furkids’ lives, and often it isn’t easy.

Vets tell you to do the “stick the pill in the mouth, close the mouth and stroke the throat to get a dog to swallow”. That never has worked for me.

Stuffing pills in hotdog pieces or coating them in peanut butter doesn’t work either. I did have a Schnauzer, Justin, who loved to take his pills in miniature marshmallows. It worked great. My vet was appalled.

My nearly no-fail technique is this: Get some lunch meat (Never ham!) or deli meat, roll the pill up in a little slice. Hold this lovely tidbit over your dog’s nose while also holding another bite in your other hand. As your furkid takes the pill tidbit, hold the other tidbit over her nose while she is chewing or swallowing the pill tidbit. The dog will stay focused on the second tidbit and eagerly want it. Give her the second tidbit. If you’re lucky, and her greed, holds, then the pill goes down on the first try.

Never let your furkid see you hide a pill in the lunchmeat. I have had dogs see this,  realize they can keep spitting the pill out, and learn they will get more meat. Smart little devils.

 

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Tattle Tail — or Tale?

Posted on October 7, 2010 by daysofourdogs

When you come home, whether you have been gone less than an hour or more than all day, your dog (or dogs in my case) greets you. Behaviorists and researchers will say that is because they are “hard-wired” and know you will feed them and take care of their basic needs. Dog owners will say their furkids love them and are glad the “pack” is together. Perhaps it is a little of both.

Jake is the best communicator of all of the dogs I have owned. And I know he has feelings.

One day a few months ago he charged up to stairs to my office. He was barking frantically at me while I was on my computer. He needed me to get up and follow him. I obliged. He led me to the top of the stairs. I looked down. A large pile of poop was on the carpet on the landing. I looked at Jake. He looked at me, snorted and marched down the stairs. The poop belonged to Hope. It was still warm when I picked it up.

Yes, Jake was a tattle-tail. He knows it is wrong to go on the carpet. He knows it is OK to go on a piddle pad on the hardwood floor if no one is home. What made him decide to tell on Hope? He didn’t even demand a belly rub for his efforts.

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Dog Toys

Posted on October 6, 2010 by daysofourdogs

 

For his birthday, Jake received a $5 toy!

 

I’m guessing many owners spend too much money on keeping the furkids amused. I learned my lesson years ago with my West Highland white terrier, Duffy.

When he was old enough I bought him his first stuffed toy: a $12 squeaky hedgehog almost as big as he was. I thought it was adorable. He destroyed it in less than 10 minutes. Lesson learned.

Cheap toys can be found. Stuffed critters may be bought at Family Dollar or Dollar General, but often they are the canvas kind. I have had the best luck at Target. This week I found small, stuffed animals in the $1 area in the front of the store. They weren’t marked as dog toys, but they had no embellishments or beady eyes as choking hazards. I think they were for infants. I bought half a dozen.

After Jake, Hope, or Windy de-stuff a toy, I will re-stuff it. When the critter is so destroyed I can’t stuff it, it goes into the trash.

Walmart has dollar toys too. You may have to dig for them. Just don’t take your dog with you — even though my dogs are better behaved than some of their customers.

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Play Time

Posted on October 5, 2010 by daysofourdogs

 

She loves this blanket.

 

Our puppy mill girl, Hope, now knows how to play with toys! Play, however, is chewing and tearing like Jake does.

Last night I handed her a cheap toy. She still does not take anything directly from our hands, so I put it in front of her. She picked it up and started to play while I watched. This was a tremendous breakthrough.

Hope has been out of the puppy mill for nearly two years. I am assuming she is around seven years old now. We are so pleased with her progress. This summer she learned the word “walk” and gets excited when we say, “Do you want to go for a walk?” She learned how to walk properly on a leash long before that. The first time we took her out for a walk she dived under my car and refused to come out. On a walk a few days after that she heard an airplane overhead. She hunkered down and was paralyzed with fear.

Our girl is becoming a beloved pet. Special thanks to helpful furkids Jake and Windy, who is feeling better.

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Gut Troubles

Posted on October 4, 2010 by daysofourdogs

A Sunday evening trip to the emergency vet. Windy’s HGE returned, but we caught it early. Black poop, loud tummy sounds and frightening gas were the warning signs.

The ER vet was impressed to see HGE in such an early stage. We wanted to avoid Windy having any major discomfort and an overnight vet hospital stay. We elected to have some subcutaneous fluids and medication. And more special vet food.

Here is her regime: ¼ tablet famotidine daily, ½ tab amoxicillin every 12 hours, ¼ tab metronidazole every 12 hours, 15 cc Pro Pectalin Gel (for the good bacteria) every 8 hours (She licks this off my finger.), ¼ tab sucralfate dissolved in water every 8 hours (Squirt it in her mouth, and do it one hour before meals).

I think I will keep her on the canned Iams intestinal low residue. She seems to like it. If she can eat it all in her crate while Jake and Hope feast on their Nutro Lamb and Rice I will be happy.

Now what time is it and what med do I need to get…

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Waste Management

Posted on October 1, 2010 by daysofourdogs

They prefer the sunshine.

My dogs are not fond of rainy days.

These domesticated divas and demon don’t like to get their precious little footsies wet. Even if it is not raining and it looks wet outside, they plant their feet inside the open doorway. This results in me carrying them out one by one.

In the meantime, piddle pads are down by the back door on the hardwood floor, which covers nearly the entire first floor of our house. Can’t use newspapers. They are too fun for Hope and Windy to shred when they are unsupervised.

Finding a good brand of piddle pad is a never-ending quest. Some are too flimsy. Some are leaky. Some are stinky.

Dogs are descendants from wolves, but my furkids ancestors would be ashamed of their wimpy natures.

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Puppy Mills

Posted on September 30, 2010 by daysofourdogs

My sweet mini schnauzer, Hope, was in an Amish puppy mill in Ohio for five years. She had so many litters she had been used up. To save her from being shot in the head and thrown in a ditch, a wonderful woman I never will know saved her and took her to Schnauzer Rescue Cincinnati.

Puppy mills are big business for what farmers see as a cash crop. In Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin the Amish and Mennonites warehouse dogs in wire cages stacked on top of each other. The lucky ones get health care and exercise. These men see this as acceptable because their religion gives them “dominion” over animals.

In turn, pet stores buy these abused puppies. When the mill dogs are used up, they are disposed of. The cycle perpetuates. State governments make efforts to stop the practice, but the lobbyists, and people sympathetic to the Amish and Mennonites, manage to block or dilute the legislation.

My girl has been learning how to be a beloved pet. I don’t think she ever will be a snuggle bunny, but she need not fear anyone making her a victim of torture and neglect.

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Feeding Time

Posted on September 29, 2010 by daysofourdogs

Dog food: dry or canned? Feed once or twice a day? Feed the dogs or the humans first? What do you do?

This month Windy was diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. (HGE) This is a sneaky illness that can take a dog’s life if not treated by your veterinarian. After a night on an IV at the vet’s, Windy came home with an antibiotic, metronidazole and a week’s worth of a special low-residue canned food.

Typically, I feed a dry I get from a pet store then add some home-cooked defatted beef or chicken broth with a couple of bites of meat. She had been eating this and was not fussy.

She loved the canned food. It did great with her digestion. When I had used almost the week’s worth up I gradually re-introduced her regular diet with the last can of the specialty food. At bedtime her gas was unreal. I try a quality canned food from a pet store. Nightmare gas again. I went back to the vet and got another week’s worth.

As I study dog food ingredients I get frustrated.  The front of the cans proclaim: “Lamb and Rice”, “Grain Free”, “Limited Ingredients”, “vegetarian” (no way). In desperation I get several kinds. The most bizarre was a fish and sweet potato formula. Not only did she hate it, Jake and Hope would not go near her dish to eat her leftovers. The kitchen smelled like I had opened a nasty can of cat food.

Last night Windy had a duck and potato formula. So far so good. At least I can strike a match and burn a candle without fear of blowing the house up.

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Hi Everyone

Posted on September 23, 2010 by daysofourdogs

Jake, Windy and Max live with their mom and dad in Ohio. We have shared our lives with dogs for more than 20 years, and I for most of my life.

Jake is an 14-year-old redheaded dachshund. He is on the large side of miniature. When my father passed, there was no question about Jake coming to live with us. Windy is 9, black and tan, and a true mini dachshund. We have had her about 18 months. Her owner had to go into assisted living.

Max is a four-year-old salt and pepper miniature schnauzer. We got him in December 2011 through our veterinarian. He was diagnosed with diabetes, and his elderly owners had to deal with their own health issues. We had a diabetic dog years ago, so we took him.

In September 2011 we lost Hope, a white miniature schnauzer, who spent five years in an Amish puppy mill in Ohio. She was rescued to a foster home by Cincinnati Schnauzer Rescue for about nine months then we adopted her. However, Hope was diagnosed with lymphoma in March 2011, and we treated that cancer as long as we could. We gave her nearly two years of love she never had.

This blog’s focus will not dwell on the cute things the furkids do every day, but it will discuss issues, items, and services relevant to canine care. Thanks for reading.

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